Parthi Duraisamy’s time as a consultant with McKinsey in Dubai revealed a clear gap in the region’s financial tools—especially when even trusted cards like American Express were often turned down. He recalls spending weekends uploading receipts and manually balancing expenses, a frustrating routine many of us can relate to.
In search of a better way, Parthi joined forces with Karun Kurien, a fellow McKinsey veteran, to launch Alaan. The startup quickly emerged as the region’s leading spend management platform. Recently, Alaan garnered $48 million in a Series A funding round—one of the largest in the Middle East—led by Peak XV Partners and backed by names including 885 Capital, Y Combinator, 468 Capital, and Pioneer Fund. Investors like Hosam Arab from Tabby and Mudassir Sheikha from Careem also clicked on board.
GV Ravishankar, Managing Director at Peak XV, noted that the market has recognised strong product fit in the MENA region, with Alaan clearly leading the pack. While regulatory hurdles delayed their initial launch—and even slowed their expansion into Saudi Arabia—the team’s resilience has shone through.
Alaan hasn’t shied away from innovative solutions. They made history by launching an integration with Apple Pay for B2B finance, a first in the region. And while early AI-powered chatbot features didn’t resonate as expected, the pivot to backend AI for tasks like receipt matching and VAT extraction has strengthened their product strategy considerably.
Since debuting in 2022, Alaan has processed over 2.5 million transactions for more than 1,500 finance teams, saving roughly 1.5 million hours of manual work. With these efficiencies driving the company to profitability, plans are now in place to ramp up operations in Saudi Arabia—a market where transaction volumes have been doubling month on month over the past six months.
Duraisamy attributes this success to a disciplined approach emphasised by mentors at Y Combinator—a stark contrast to fintech rivals that focus solely on transaction numbers. By staying true to capital efficiency and solid revenue generation, Alaan has built a business that stands out even when compared to peers like Ramp.
If you’ve ever battled with tedious expense management, Alaan’s journey offers a welcome reminder that a smarter, more streamlined process isn’t just achievable—it can become a thriving business model.
